SP Releases Third List of 5 Candidates in UP, Shivpal to Contest From Badaun | Details Here

New  Delhi: The Samajwadi Party on Tuesday released the third list of 5 candidates in Uttar Pradesh for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. The party has replaced Dharmendra Yadav with Shivpal Yadav in Badaun. Dharmendra Yadav is the son of Abhay Ram Yadav, the younger brother of SP founder late Mulayam Singh Yadav. Dharmendra Yadav was first elected as an MP from Mainpuri in 2004 by-polls. He represented Badaun in the Lok Sabha in 2009 and 2014.

For the unversed, the Samajwadi Party's list of candidates comes amidst a stalemate with the Congress regarding seat sharing in Uttar Pradesh, a state which contributes 80 Members of Parliament to the Lok Sabha.  

Lok Sabha Elections 2024: SP Releases Candidates List

Yesterday, SP had declared 11 more candidates from Uttar Pradesh, including don-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari's brother and BSP MP Afzal Ansari. On January 30, the SP had announced its first list of candidates for 16 Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh.

The party's Monday announcement comes amid the offer of 17 Lok Sabha seats to the Congress, an alliance partner in the INDIA bloc. Altogether, the state has 80 LS constituencies. Afzal Ansari, who is the sitting BSP MP from Ghazipur parliamentary constituency, has been fielded from the same seat by the SP.

The other candidates announced by the party are Harendra Malik (Muzaffarnagar), Neeraj Maurya (Aonla), Rajesh Kashyap (Shahjahanpur-SC), Usha Verma (Hardoi-SC), RK Chaudhary (Mohanlalganj-SC), SP Singh Patel (Pratapgarh), Ramesh Gautam (Bahraich-SC), Shreya Verma (Gonda), Virendra Singh (Chandauli) and Rampal Rajvanshi (Misrikh-SC).

Of the 11, four hail from the backward community, five from the Scheduled Caste category, Virendra Singh is a Thakur, while Afzal Ansari is a Muslim.

The Samajwadi Party has been facing flak from party leaders and alliance partners over not giving tickets to the PDA (Pichhda, Dalit, Alpsankhyak) candidates for the ongoing Rajya Sabha elections.

For Rajya Sabha, voting for which will take place on February 27, the SP has fielded two Kayasthas -- cinestar Jaya Bachhan and former UP Chief Secretary Alok Ranjan and a Dalit Ramji Lal Suman.

Asked if its list for LS polls is a damage control exercise, SP spokesperson Rajpal Kashyap told PTI, "This list has all the elements of the 'PDA' embedded in it. And this is not a damage control exercise." He added, "The party's earlier list also had all the elements of PDA. Now, those who are raising questions, they have some vested interests." The SP on Monday offered 17 Lok Sabha seats to the Congress in Uttar Pradesh, with the condition that its chief, Akhilesh Yadav, would join the Rahul Gandhi-led Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra in Raebareli only if the proposal is accepted.

"We have given a final offer of 17 Lok Sabha seats to the Congress. Akhilesh Yadav's participation in the Nyay Yatra in Raebareli on Tuesday will depend on their acceptance," SP chief spokesperson Rajendra Chaudhary told PTI.

He, however, refused to tell which seats were offered to the Congress.

The SP had earlier offered 11 seats to the grand old party – an offer it rebuffed with a demand for a higher allocation.

Ajay Rai, the Congress' Uttar Pradesh unit chief, had earlier said the party should get around two dozen seats that it had won in the 2009 general elections.

Dimple Yadav, Akhilesh Yadav's wife, and two other leaders from the Yadav family -- Akshay Yadav and Dharmendra Yadav -- figured in the party's first list.

The SP also named Awadhesh Prasad as its candidate from Faizabad constituency, which covers Ayodhya district.

At present, Awadhesh Prasad, a nine-time MLA, represents Milkipur assembly constituency in the UP Assembly.

Sitting MP Dimple Yadav has been fielded from Mainpuri, while party MP Shafiqur Rahman Barq, a five-time MP, will contest from Sambhal.

Ravidas Mehrotra, the sitting MLA from Lucknow Central, has been named as the party candidate for Lucknow Lok Sabha seat.

Akshay Yadav, son of senior SP leader Ramgopal Yadav, has been named the party's candidate from Firozabad, while Dharmendra Yadav fielded from Badun.

Dimple Yadav, a three-time MP, had won the by-poll to the Mainpuri seat following the demise of Mulayam Singh Yadav.

In 2019, he lost the seat to Sanghmitra Maurya of the BJP. Akshay Yadav was elected to the Lok Sabha in 2014 from Firozabad. He was defeated by BJP's Chandra Sen Jadon in 2019